Therefore behold I will allure her, I will bring her into the wilderness and speak comfort to her. I will give her vineyards from there and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope. She shall sing there as in the days of her youth. (Hosea 2:14-15)

All the years of pain and torment I had gone through were a total of forty. The number of years that the Israelites walked through the wilderness. I had a wilderness experience and I was allured by God, (not knowing this then).The scripture in Romans 11:32 comes to mind in reference to this,”God has turned men over to disobedience in order to show them His great mercy.” I was brought into the wilderness and He spoke comfort to me. I had to choose to receive that comfort in spite of the torment I was in.

When we look back on our lives we realize that in the times of deepest despair, is when God spoke the most. When we were in the deepest of sin, His love was most evident. When we were in the most pain, His comfort was so evident, and when our minds were assaulted the greatest is when we experienced His great peace.

He gives vineyards in the wilderness, a source of food and drink in a dry time. Achor means trouble, and it is in our trouble that He uses our pain and sorrow as a doorway to hope. Many times we see no hope when we are covered with despair, but know that it is trouble itself that God uses at times as a doorway to the hope that He offers.  God is the God of restoration and of love. It is an awesome and a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Know this day that your trouble is a door to hope. Whatever trouble you are facing in your life, walk through it with the full assurance that your King is next to you guiding your very steps!

Pastor Michael Cannatello

The Teaching Ministry of Michael Cannatello TMMC